A Japanese man has married a character in a popular video game, taking her – and his handheld game console – on an overseas honeymoon.

The man, who prefers to use his online moniker SAL9000, met character Nene Anegasaki while playing dating simulation game Love Plus.

They got married a few weeks ago, broadcasting their ceremony live on Japan’s version of the video-sharing website Youtube.

SAL9000, who did not want to reveal his real name for fear of being misunderstood, admits to be an otaku – a breed of Japanese youth obsessed with video games, computers and fantasy worlds.

“In the Japanese otaku or nerd culture, there’s a tradition of calling characters my wife, and I sort of thought of Nene as my wife,” he said.

“Since I was calling her that, I thought we’d just have to get married then.

“If more people were to find ways of expressing themselves like this, I think it would make society a bit more interesting.”

The newlyweds, who went on a honeymoon to Guam, now go on dates around Tokyo, with SAL9000 taking pictures of Nene, installed in his Nintendo DS, in front of famous landmarks and then posting them on social networking sites.

As the game Love Plus has voice recognition software, SAL9000 says it is possible to have a sort of conversation with Nene or even play simple games such as rock, paper, scissors.

He has also vowed to have and to hold, for better and for worse, even if another, updated version of the game is released.

update…
(MYFOXNATIONAL) – We’ve heard of men marrying their pets and other inanimate objects -- but a video game character?

A man who goes by online name SAL9000 got hitched to the woman of his dreams, Nene Anegasaki, last month in Tokyo. She’s a character in a popular Japanese dating simulation video game called “Love Plus.”

“In the Japanese otaku or nerd culture, there’s a tradition of calling characters my wife, and I sort of thought of Nene as my wife. Since I was calling her that, I thought we’d just have to get married then,” SAL told Reuters Television .

“If more people were to find ways of expressing themselves like this, I think it would make society a bit more interesting.”

At their wedding ceremony, SAL was joined by 40 real guests and watched by more than 3,000 people on Nico Nico Douga, Japan’s version of YouTube.

SAL then treated his wife to a real-life honeymoon in Guam.

Unlike other dating simulation games, Love Plus requires a player to take out the virtual girl on dates, buy her gifts and make her happy like he would in real life. The player can increase his abilities by studying, working out and solving the problems of his virtual girlfriend, but if he fails to make his girlfriend happy, the game will restart after 100 days.

another update…
On November 22, 2009 a Japanese man called SAL9000 got married to his dream woman, Nene Anegasaki. So far nothing new, people marry all the time. However, this woman happens to be built up out of pixels. Nene Anegasaki is a game character from the game Love Plus, a Japanese dating simulation. The man had to go to Guam to find a priest who would conduct the ceremony. The marriage is not officially recognized. http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/11/man_marries_virtual_girlfriend.html1
Strangely enough, this man is not alone in his desire to marry a virtual character, 3500 people have signed an online petition to legalize marriages between man and two-dimensional characters.
Dating Games
Dating games, or “Dating Simulations” are extremely popular in Japan. Generally, the objective of dating simulations is to date, choose between, and to achieve a romantic relationship with one or more game characters. As dating simulations are mainly focussed on the Japanese market, the featured girls are generally manga-style drawn figures, mostly of the ‘girly schoolgirl’ type. In general, the player is a male figure, surrounded by several female persons. Progress is measured by the level of affection the female persons have towards the player. Each character has its(her) own characteristics, so a main part of the gameplay is concerned by figuring out what has a positive reaction to the female characters. The player loses if he is unable to conquer one of the girls within a set time. The player wins if he wins her over, usually by succesfully completing a final date, or has sex with her, or marries her.http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Simulation/Dating//2
Love Plus
Love Plus is a Japanese dating simulation game by Konami for the Nintendo DS. In the game, the player has to woe three girls, in an attempt to get them to like him. After the first courtships, if successful, one of the girls tells the player she likes him, leading to a second phase in the ‘relationship’, where things get more ‘physical’, with the use of the unique DS controller features (read: you get to ‘touch’ the girl via the touchpad) http://thenintendo.com/2009/07/love-plus/3
http://www.mahalo.com/man-marries-game-character